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Tai Kaliso
Corporal Tai Kaliso was a Gear soldier who hailed from Irohma Island in the South Islands. He joined the Coalition of Ordered Governments army after his hometown was wiped out by Union of Independent Republics forces during the Pendulum Wars. A boulder of a man, Tai's muscular appearance stands in contrast to his quiet, meditative personality. Tai was descended from a long line of men who viewed themselves not just as fighters but as warriors. This lineage molded Tai into a warrior-philosopher with a spiritual view of war that often caused odd glances from his squadmates. However, they liked and respected him, even if they didn't always understand him. Tai and Marcus Fenix have a long history of saving each other's lives during the Pendulum Wars, and served alongside each other several times during the Locust War. Biography Early Life Tai was from the South Islands, and was born on the Island of Irohma. He was raised in that islands strong warrior tradition, which other islands saw as extreme.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 364 Pendulum Wars Battle of Irohma Island Around four years before Emergence Day, Irohma was attacked by the Union of Independent Republics. While the main tribal forces defended the village, Tai began stalking UIR squads and taking them out one by one as they moved through the jungle. He stalked a UIR patrol that was heading toward his village, slitting the rear Indie's throat, and then jumped on the next one and stabbed him in the neck. He then grabbed the Indie's weapon and shot the other two members of the patrol as they tried to attack him. Tai then headed back to his village, but was horrified to discover that it had been destroyed by the UIR in his absence, with everyone in it being brutally slaughtered. Tai continued his tactics of hunting down Indie squads in revenge, determined to become the Indie's worst nightmare. During a rainstorm, Tai stalked a lone man and prepared to shoot him with an arrow, but the man, Cpl.Marcus Fenix, warned him not to do that. Marcus told him that he was with the Coalition of Ordered Governments, and they were fighting the UIR and trying to drive them out of the South Islands. He promised him that the COG was going to win the war, and that he wanted Tai to be on the winning side, offering him a chance to become a Gear. With nothing left for him on Irohma Island, Tai accepted his offer.Gears of War: The Quickening Battle of Aspho Fields One year later, Tai was a member of the 26th Royal Tyran Infantry's C Company. He trained for Operation Leveler with the rest of the company, practicing naval insertions. After one practice operation at Merrenat Naval Base, he and Sgt.Bernadette Mataki, a fellow Islander, talked and exchanged rations.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 147-153 During the actual operation, Tai fought in the more urban areas of the battle. He killed two Indie soldiers, giving comfort to one of them until his soul passed on, telling him to be at peace. Tai then used the body as a Meat Shield, and killed two more Indie soldiers. He reported to Major Helena Stroud that he could hear Khimeras approaching from the sea.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 274 As the battle was winding down, Bernie assigned Tai to get the remaining stragglers down to the Sea Raven LZ while she retrieved Marcus and Pvt.Carlos Santiago. He asked her if she was sure Carlos was still out there, as he had not heard any firing from the area he was in for a few minutes, and that he hadn't reported in on the radio. Bernie told Tai she was sure he was still out there, and Tai proceeded to head to the LZ with the rest of the unit.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 313 Skirmish in Ghato City Two years later, Tai was in a squad with Sgt.Marcus Fenix, Pvt.Dominic Santiago, and Pvt.Padrick Salton. C Company was dispatched to the Independent Republic of Furlin, and Tai and the others were deployed to Ghato City to clear out a unit of Indie soldiers. They became pinned down inside a building by a Indie squad, so Marcus ordered Tai to fire a RPG at them in order to give Pad cover as he got into position to snipe at them. As Tai got the RPG ready, he remarked that they sought balance in war but sometimes only found stalemate, casuing Pad to tell him to just hurry up and fire the rocket. Tai fired the rocket, and joined in with Marcus and Dom in firing their Lancers to give Pad more cover. After Pad sniped the machine gunner, Tai, Marcus, and Dom rushed the Indie position as Pad gave them covering fire, and they killed the remaining Indies. Marcus contacted command and let them know they had killed the Indies, and Tai began walking with the rest of the squad to Tenla in order to regroup with the rest of C Company.Gears of War: Promise Me Ceasefire Two weeks later, C Company stopped on a cliffside road overlooking a Furlin town, and heard over the radio that Chairman Tomas Dalyell had announced that talks for the surrender of the UIR had begun. Credit for the surrender was given to Professor Adam Fenix and his Hammer of Dawn project, which had convinced Premier Yori Deschenko to stand down. Tai joined in on the celebrations, and told Marcus that his father had found his true path in life. Marcus told him that things weren't over yet, and fighting could continue for weeks as the details were worked out. He was proven right seconds later, when Indie soldiers on the cliffs opposite them began shelling their position, with many shells also landing in the town below. Tai and the others took cover and returned fire, as their commander tried to contact the Indies and offer an informal ceasefire to avoid more bloodshed. The Indie commander was skeptical at first, but soon learned that the surrender was true, and stopped firing and surrendered to the COG forces. Three hours later, Tai stood with the rest of the company looking at their watches, as the official ceasefire and end to the war went into effect at noon. One Year after Emergence Day Battle of Jannermont Only a few weeks after the end of the Pendulum Wars, the Locust emerged from underground and began destroying the victorious COG forces, overrunning entire countries and military divisions. One year after their emergence, Tai was still serving in a squad with Marcus, Dom, and Pad during the retreat back over Tyra River. While on route back to Ephyra in APC-Two-Eighty, Tai slept in the back of the APC. He was woken up when Pad took the vehicle off-road and the APC began bouncing around, and told him that they would reach their destined place in the world no matter how fast he went. Pad shot back that he didn't believe in destiny, and that doing so led you to believe all kinds of crap. Tai smiled back to him and said that he should embrace what he couldn't change, but Pad again dismissed Tai's philosophical pronouncement. They then heard that Jannermont was under attack, but were ordered to stay away from it by Control. However, Tai and the others decided to head there and help. They found Locust killing civilians in a general store, and Tai, Marcus, and Dom rushed inside to save them while Pad covered them from outside. During the battle, Marcus was wrestling with a Drone and was unable to reach any of his weapons. Tai came from behind with a power saw and sliced the Drone in half, smiling as he did so. Marcus thanked him for the save, and Tai remarked that the world was full of weapons waiting to be used. Tai's use of power saw led to the creation of the Chainsaw Bayonet.http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/05/24/the-gear-of-gears.aspx Tai and Dom then carried a wounded man outside to where Pad had put several others, and they then loaded the wounded civilians into their APC and took them to a first aid station. As they began to head back to Ephyra, Tai fell asleep again in the back of the APC. However, their APC broke down and Pad was unable to fix it. They stripped it of all useful parts, but Tai had them leave the broken engine, in order to teach the Locust "value of strength from adversity" if they found and tried to use it. They then began walking to the nearest convoy point.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 130-142 Rushing back to Ephyra After walking all night, they eventully reached a vehicle checkpoint along the Ephyra-Kinnerlake highway, where they overheard Chairman Richard Prescotts announcement of the Hammer of Dawn counterattack. Marcus was held at the checkpoint because his father had requested he be evacuated, but Marcus refused to leave the squad, and instead put a civilian and his baby on board the Raven that had come to pick him up. Tai and the rest of the squad then began to move abandoned cars out of the way, in order to allow military and civilian traffic to flow again. After they finished, they boarded a convoy heading back to Ephyra.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 180-187 Clearing the Voslov Bridge After making it back to Ephyra, Tai and the rest of the squad were deployed to reopen the Voslov Bridge a mere seven hours before the Hammer strike. They arrived to find fifty Locust Drones had destroyed a convoy crossing the bridge, and were looting the remains. They headed to the bridge control booth, where Marcus lifted up the bridge, killing all the Locust on it as they were crushed by vehicles, while Tai fired a Longspear into a fuel truck, killing most of the other Drones. Pad complimented him on his good shooting, but Marcus was worried that a bulldozer they needed to clear the debris had been damaged by the explosion. Luckily, it wasn't, and the four of them then mopped up what was left of the Locust while waiting for the fires to burn out. Tai then watched with Marcus and Dom as Pad cleared a path for the convoy with a bulldozer, and patrolled along the end of the road, firing a few shots into the forest when he thought he saw Locust. They got back into their APC, and Pad drove it to the rear of the last convoy to make it safely to Ephyra. As they drove, Dom asked Tai if he had any family still on the Islands. Tai told him that he hoped that the Hammer of Dawn would not waste it's time targeting most of the Islands.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 276-284 Scouting a Wasteland Five days after the Hammer of Dawn strike, Tai and the squad was deployed in PA-Five-One to scout the areas near Ephyra hit by the attack. After driving for several hours and finding nothing but a desolate wasteland, they stopped one kilometer outside the city of Gerrenhalt because the terrain was too tough for the APC to continue on. As Pad took a break to relieve himself, Dom and Marcus talked with Tai, and Marcus told him that few of the Island were targeted. Tai responded that he could not change the past, so all he could do was move on. They were interrupted when Pad returned, shaken up because he had discovered he had been standing on burned dead bodies. They drove back to base, where Pad sat down in front of the APC and began talking about death in wistful tones. After he left the hanger, Marcus asked Tai to take a shift with Pad to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. Tai replied that it was not their decision on whether or not Pad wanted to live with the things he had seen, but followed him anyway.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 313-323 Evacuation of North Gate Preparing for the Evacuation Thirteen years later, the war with the Locust continued to rage. Tai took part in the Evacuation of North Gate, where he was Col.Victor Hoffman's personal APC driver. He and Hoffman were in APC-One, in the middle of the convoy. As they drove, Hoffman had Tai stop so he could speak to a couple of Stranded women. After they began driving again, Tai and Hoffman discussed if the Locust were close to defeat, and Tai vowed to make sure the last of the Locust would lay dead at Hoffman's feet.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 68-73 Shortly after they arrived at the North Gate Agricultural Depot, Lt.Anya Stroud informed them that a group of Locust had been spotted moving on the ground. KR A-108 was dispatched to transport Tai and the other Gears to intercept them. As they flew to the ambush point, Tai and the other Gears discussed with the Raven crew on if the war was really almost over, and Hoffman pointed out how after the Battle of Aspho Fields, the Pendulum Wars had still gone on for two more years, with many more casualties. Tai responded with the exact amount of Gears that had been killed, stopping the conversation. Pvt.Augustus Cole asked Tai if his lip piercings made it hard for him to get women, and Tai and the others laughed. Once they arrived at the ambush point, Tai and the others got off of the Raven and into to cover. Once the Locust got into range, Hoffman gave the order to engage. During the battle, Tai charged into the Locust, screaming as he cut into one with his chainsaw. After the last of the Drones were killed, the Raven returned Tai and the others to the convoy point.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 134-146 Ambushes Tai once again drove Hoffman in APC-One in the middle of the convoy. As they drove, both sensed that something was wrong, when suddenly the Locust ambushed part of the convoy. Trucks Two-twenty-five and Two-twenty-six were taken out, and all personal aboard both were killed. As Tai drove APC-One to take over at the head of the convoy, they passed the two trucks and discovered Stranded swarming over them. Tai and Hoffman stopped and exited the truck, with Tai mad that they were crawling over the bodies of his comrades. He fired his grenade launcher into the trucks as the Stranded ran away, blowing it up. He called out to the Stranded that he would return for the remains later, determined to not leave anyone behind, alive or dead.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 197-205 After Two-forty-five and APC-Three were hit, Tai and Hoffman took up positions in the Theater of the Muses to investigate a Locust ambush. However, their APC was booby trapped while they were away from it. When they returned to it and discovered the trap, Hoffman and Tai disconnected their comms, not wanting to draw any other Gears into the ambush. They decided to attempt to make their own way back, or take as many Locust down with them as they could.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 253-258 They became pinned down as Locust emerged from a basement, but Tai was able to plug it up with a grenade. Several Locust were still able to come out of it, and continued to close in on the two of them. Tai chainsawed several and Hoffman shot several more, but they were still in danger of being overrun until Marcus and Dom arrived to save them. Tai explained their situation to Marcus, and Anya sent Jack in to disarm the bomb. Dom was concerned about the bots safety, and Tai argued that it wasn't sentient. Dom countered that the Locust were sentient and Tai had no problem killing them, but Tai told him that that was his calling. After the bomb was disarmed, Tai drove them back to the Jacinto safe zone in the APC.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 325-331 Recovering the Fallen The next day, Tai led a recovery team to recover the remains of the dead drivers and guards from the destroyed vehicles that had been left behind. In addition to recover their remains, Tai also helped the rest of the squad gather what salvagable materials they could from the wreckage of the vehicles. Afterwords, they recovered a broken down vehicle from a group of Stranded trying to take it.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 364-367 Continuing the Fight Battle outside of Jacinto Three weeks later, Tai fought in a battle outside of Jacinto alongside Marcus, Pvt.Jace Stratton, and Pvt.Dizzy Wallin. After the battle, he saw Jace looking ill at the sight of all the Locust corpses, and asked if him was okay. Jace responded that he is not thrilled with death, and Tai told him that he shouldn't be, and that all life is sacred. Jace responded that it is hard to remember that sometimes, and Tai agreed, but said they still must remember. He then burned the corpses of the Locust with a flamethrower. Raid on Jacinto Med Five months later, Tai had been promoted to Corporal and was stationed at Jacinto Med when it came under attack by Locust. He ran into Marcus and Pvt.Dominic Santiago during the raid, and told them it was good to see them again. He then led them upstairs, where he showed them an ambush that had been set up to take out the Locust by placing fuel tanks around where they would be entering. He also warned them to stay away from the rustlung patients, and explained to them what it was. After they wiped out the first group of Drones with the aid of another squad of Gears, they proceeded to clear the hospital of all the attacking Locust. After killing a group of Locust near the exit, they waited for power to be restored so they could proceed. Tai commented that he liked the glow of the Locust blood in the emergency lights, causing Dom to reply that he had a sick mind. When power was restored, they headed for the exit and discovered Pvt.Benjamin Carmine, Delta's newest member, waiting there, and he told them that Locust were fighting Gears out in street in front of the hospital. The four of them headed outside, and repelled the Locust incursion along with several other Gears. After the battle, Carmine attempted to get a high five from Tai, but failed, and the two of them watched Dom's breakdown after discovering that he had missed finding his wife again.Gears of War 2: Act 1: Tip of the Spear: Desperation Operation: Hollow Storm Assault on Landown During the Assault on Landown, Tai rode on Rig D14 on the road to the city. His Assault Derrick was in the rear guard, and was unharmed upon its arrival in Landown.Gears of War 2: Act 1: Tip of the Spear: Rolling Thunder However, it was destroyed by Tickers the moment it entered the city, killing Tai's entire squad. Tai somehow survived, and he joined up with Delta-One once again. Marcus told him it was good to have him back and that he was sorry about his squad, but Tai responded that everything happened for a reason. Dizzy asked him what had happened to his rig, and Tai explained to him that the whole area was infested with Tickers. As they fought through the city, Tai talked about when the Locust first took Landown during the Winter of Sorrow, and how it had been a bad omen. When they reached a long dark tunnel, Ben wondered why they just didn't give them flashlights. Tai remarked that he prefered "might versus light", meaning that he would take an extra gun over a flashlight any day. They cleared a path to the drill site for Delta's Rig, defending it from Tickers, Reavers, and a Brumak.Gears of War 2: Act 1: Tip of the Spear: Roadblocks After reaching the dillzone, Tai and the others defended the rig from the Locust counterattack while Dizzy prepared the Grindlifts. However, before Tai and Carmine could tunnel into the Hollow, Skorge attacked the Derrick. Tai left his Grindlift to assist Dizzy as he fought against Skorge. After his squadmates got away in their Grindlifts,Gears of War 2: Act 1: Tip of the Spear: Desperation: Digging In Tai realized that he was no match for Skorge, and he ordered Dizzy to leave and save himself. After Dizzy escaped, Tai lost the fight against Skorge. Captured, Processed, and Death Tai was not killed by Skorge, and along with many other Gears, he was taken captive by the Locust. He and the others were led into the Hollow and "processed" by being hung on hooks and whipped with a metal whip, among other tortures. Tai was then imprisoned on a Beast Barge, where he was found by Delta Squad, heavily scarred and brutally tortured, with bleeding gouges and deep slashes all over his body and back from the processing. Marcus, unaware of the mental toll the torture had taken on him, armed Tai with a Gnasher Shotgun and told him to join the team. Tai hesitated, and upon realizing his soul had already left his body during his ordeal, he aimed the shotgun at his own head. As Marcus heard him cock the shotgun, he tried to stop Tai before he pulled the trigger, but was too late and Tai committed suicide. Marcus was horrified by this turn of events and Carmine, who had truly believed that Tai could survive everything, was shocked as well. His COG Tags were then collected by Marcus, and his body was left on the barge as Delta moved deeper into the Hollow.Gears of War: Act 2: Denizens: Captivity Legacy Marcus reported Tai's death to Anya, who was saddened to hear about it, and passed her condolences along to him. After Operation: Hollow Storm ended with the sinking of Jacinto and the flooding of the Hollow, the COG relocated to Port Farrall, where news of Tai's death and the circumstances surrounding it began spreading throughout the COG forces. Sgt.Bernadette Mataki was especially upset, and attempted to take revenge on the Locust by torturing one, but was persuaded not to by Marcus.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 45, 49-50 Hoffman and Dizzy were also upset to learn Tai had died, and Dizzy and the rest of Delta vowed to drink in his honor when they got the chance.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 81-82 Personality and Traits Tai, along with his attitude, is calm and almost philosophical at moments. During battle he can reflect this calm and yet violent personality, as he says "I like the glow of Locust blood in this light". He is willing, able, strong, brave, ready to lead, and ready to fight, just like any COG soldier should be. Tai believed in destiny, and that one would reach their destined place in the world no matter what they did.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 133-134 After being captured and tortured, it lead him to suicide but it was not of own personal dissatisfaction with life, but rather because he was left a broken and hollow man according to his religion. His soul had left his body long before his torture by his Locust captors, his body was merely following when it got the opportunity. Tai decorated his armor and Lancer with tribal symbols similar to his tattos, something that was against regulations.Gears of War: Aspho Fields pg 68 Tai always checked over vehicles before he entered them, after friends of his in the Pendulum Wars were killed by a bomb planted on their vehicle.Gear of War: Aspho Fields pg 258 Notable Quotes Gears of War: Aspho Fields Behind the Scenes *Tai Kaliso is based off the New Zealand Maori. He is the first Gears of War character created with the intention of showing religion in the series. *Tai was voiced by Fred Tatasciore. Multiplayer *Tai Kaliso is a playable character in Gears of War 2 multiplayer, and is unlocked by beating Act 2: Denizens. *Unlike in the campaign, Tai's multiplayer character does not have his large shoulder peice. *Cliff Bleszinski has hinted that Tai will be added as Downloadable Content for Gears of War 3 Multiplayer sometime after the games release.http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gears-of-gt-tv-extended/719557 References Category:Characters Category:COG Category:Gear Soldier Category:Pendulum Wars veterans Category:South Islanders Category:Males